Starting Administrator or Tracker

Use this procedure to start the Administrator or Tracker application.

In a client-server configuration, start the Server application before you log on to Administrator or Tracker.

On some UNIX operating systems, occasional X windows scroll bar exceptions might occur in the normal use of the Administrator and Tracker X windows clients. These exceptions display in the terminal window where the clients were launched and are of no consequence.

On UNIX, ensure you have X Windows connectivity to the system where WebLogic Integration - Business Connect is installed. Log in to the account you created during the installation process. Run the following command:

installation_directory/bin/admin

If you are starting the application for the first time, click OK. Do not type a user ID or a password. The default user ID is Administrator and the default password is blank.

Starting the Server Application

The Server application must be running before you can exchange documents with your partners. Although you can start and stop Server at any time, we recommend you run the application continuously.

We strongly recommended that you have only one instance of WebLogic Integration - Business Connect on a computer. You should not have two or more instances installed at the same time on the same computer. The only exception is when you temporarily have two instances installed while upgrading the application. But even in that case, you should not run two applications at the same time on the same computer.

The Server application synchronizes with your system's time for time-stamping transactions. If you change the system time on the system where the Server application is running, you must re-start the Server application for the Server to recognize the change.

If you are already running WebLogic Integration - Business Connect Server as a Windows service, you should not start it from your desktop.

On UNIX computers you can set up the Server application as a system service. See Installing WebLogic Integration - Business Connect.

Starting the Server on Windows

To start the Server application on Windows, select Start—>Programs—>BEA WebLogic Integration - Business Connect 8.1—>Start Server. In addition to starting the server, the Server Display window opens. The window has two tabs, Transactions and Agents. You can use a mouse to adjust the widths of the columns on the tabs.

In Administrator or Tracker, select Tools—>Launch Server Monitor to view server activity in a browser.

Figure 3-1 Server Display Window Transactions Tab

Transactions Tab Fields

The following describes the fields on the Server Display window Transactions tab.

Company

The ID of the company associated with the transaction.

Action

The action describing the transaction. Possible actions are:

Action

Description

Ack Sent

The system has sent your partner an acknowledgment of receiving a document.

Acknowledged

The system has received from your partner an acknowledgment of a document you sent.

Acquired

The system has acquired a document through the outbound integration set up in your company profile.

API - Notify - Local

The system has notified a local API client of an event.

API - Notify - Remote

The system has notified a remote API client of an event.

API - Receiving - Remote

An API client has gotten a document from an HTTP or HTTPS server.

API - Sending - Local

The system has sent a document for a local API client.

API - Sending - Remote

The system has sent a document for a remote API client.

New

The system has retrieved a new document for outbound processing.

Packaged

The system has packaged an outbound document.

Received

The system has received a document from a partner.

Rejected

The system has rejected a document and placed it in the rejected directory.

Sent

The system has sent a document to a partner.

Transferred

The system has moved an unpackaged document received from your partner to the inbound integration set up in your company profile.

Document

The document type. Possible types are:

Document type

Description

Binary

A binary document.

nnnnnnnnn

A nine-digit control number indicates an EDI document.

XML

An XML document.

NA

The document type is not applicable. This usually is associated with a rejected document.

Time

The time and date of the transaction.

Figure 3-2 Server Display Window Agents Tab

Agents Tab Fields

The following describes the fields on the Server Display window Agents tab. An agent is a process that operates continuously or performs work when a specific event occurs.

Agent

The name of the agent. There are agents for the Server application itself and agents for transports, inbound polling, outbound polling, document packaging and unpackaging, document sending and receiving.

The agents for outbound and inbound polling show three numbers following each active transport or document type. These are, in order, the document polling rate in seconds, the documents per cycle and the maximum threads. The polling rate is the interval when WebLogic Integration - Business Connect polls for inbound or outbound documents. The documents per cycle is the maximum number of documents the application can retrieve at each polling interval. The maximum threads are packaging threads for outbound documents and unpackaging threads for inbound documents.

Name (ID)

Identifies that the system or a company is associated with the agent.

Status

The status of the agent. The following are the possible status types.

Status

Description

Idle

The agent is available, but not running.

Packaging

The agent is packaging a document for sending to a partner. Depending on options you select, packaging can include encrypting, signing, MIME wrapping and compressing.

Paused

The agent is running, but in a paused state. Paused indicates the Server application is waiting for memory to free up before continuing processing. Paused is a normal state for brief intervals. If this state persists, processing is exceeding available real memory. See Paused Server Processing.

Receiving

The agent is receiving data from a partner.

Running

The agent is running.

Sending

The agent is sending data to a partner.

Unpackaging

The agent is unpackaging a document received from a partner. Depending on selected options, unpackaging can include decrypting, decompressing and MIME unwrapping.

Wait/connect

The agent is attempting to connect to a transport server. Wait/connect is a normal state for brief intervals. If this state persists, it might indicate a transport failure.

Starting the Server on UNIX

To start the Server application on UNIX, ensure you have X Windows connectivity to the system where WebLogic Integration - Business Connect is installed. Log in to the account you created during the installation process. Run the following command:

installation_directory/bin/start_server

In Administrator or Tracker, select Tools—>Launch Server Monitor to view server activity in a browser. Also, see Monitoring the Server Application for information about using the tail -f command to view the console output. (A Server Display window is not available on UNIX as it is on Windows.)

Monitoring the Server Application

The following topics are provided for monitoring activity on the Server application.

Viewing the server.log File in Windows and UNIX

You can use the View Server Log utility to view real-time activity on the Server application. The activity you view is recorded in the server.log file in the logs subdirectory under the directory where WebLogic Integration - Business Connect is installed. You can use the View Server Log utility only on the computer where you have installed the Server application. All Server actions display as they occur.

Note: If the View Server Log window is open when archiving occurs, the file you are viewing is archived and no further Server activity displays. When this occurs, the following line appears at the bottom of the window: Archiving console logs [date and time]. Open a new View Server Log window to continue monitoring activity.

Windows

On the Windows Start menu select Programs—>BEA WebLogic Integration - Business Connect 8.1—>View Server Log to open a console window displaying server messages that are written to the server.log file. The server.log file is located in installation_directory\logs.

Figure 3-3 View Server Log Window

UNIX

On UNIX, log in to the account you created during the installation process. Run the following command:

tail -f installation_directory/logs/server.log

Viewing Processes on UNIX

To view a snapshot of all WebLogic Integration - Business Connect components, you can use the processes command. The output of this command identifies each WebLogic Integration - Business Connect process that is running. This can be helpful in troubleshooting the application. Run the following command:

installation_directory/bin/processes

For definitions of the column headings displayed with the processes command, use the man ps command.

Monitoring the Server with a Browser

Use this procedure to view Server application activity on a web page. You access the page with a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator that is on the same computer as WebLogic Integration - Business Connect Server or on a client computer with access to the Server. The Server application must be running for activity to display on the web page. The web page by default refreshes once a minute, but you can change the refresh rate.

The web page provides summary-level information not available in Tracker, such as totals for documents packaged, sent and received. It also shows whether server agents are active or idle and reports recent activity for transactions and alerts.

The information on the web page is for the current session of the Server application. If you stop and restart Server, the page display resets. You also can use the reset button to restart the counters in the summary section without restarting the application.

Steps

Select Tools—>Launch Server Monitor in Administrator or Tracker to display the web page on your browser.

Alternately, to access the web page outside of Administrator or Tracker, open a browser and type a URL in the following format:

http://server_name:port_number/status/summary.html

Substitute the name of the computer running the Server application for server_name. The default port_number is 4080. If the computer name or port number has been changed, select Tools—>Preferences in Administrator and check the host name and HTTP port fields on the General and Port tabs, respectively, of the Preferences window.

Press Enter to display the web page.

Figure 3-4 Partial View of the Server Monitor Web Page

Click the links at the top of the page to display different views of the page.

To reset the fields above the Reset button on the summary section of the page, click Reset.

To change the page refresh rate, scroll to the Refresh rate field, type the refresh rate you want in seconds and click Change.

Description of the Server Monitor Web Page

At the top of the page in the format [name] Server Monitor is the name under which the application is licensed. The name identifies whose trading activity the server monitor page is tracking. This is the name as it appears in the registered to field in Hel—>Product Information in Administrator or Tracker.

You can view categories of information by clicking the links at the top of the page. The links are:

Summary

This area displays summary statistics about trading activity. The following information is in the Summary section.

Server running for [n] days, [n] hours, [n] minutes, [n] seconds

The elapsed time that Server has been running. The web page displays activity for the current session only. If you restart Server, the counters reset to zero. For historical trading information use Tracker.

Documents packaged

The number of documents that have been packaged (encrypted and signed, as applicable) in the current session of Server. Packaging occurs before documents are sent to partners.

Documents sent

The number of documents sent to all trading partners in the current session of Server.

Documents resent

The number of documents resent in the current session of Server following unsuccessful attempts.

Documents received

The number of documents received from all trading partners in the current session of Server.

Acks sent

The number of acknowledgments or message disposition notices (MDNs) sent to trading partners to acknowledge receiving documents from them in the current session of Server.

Acks received

The number of acknowledgments or MDNs received from trading partners in the current session of Server. Your partners sent the acknowledgments to acknowledge receiving documents from you.

Documents rejected

The number of inbound or outbound documents that you or your trading partners have rejected in the current session of Server.

Alerts

The number of alert notices that Server has sent to you in the current session.

Agents

This area lists the status of Server agents. An agent is a process that operates continuously or performs work when a specific event occurs. This area displays data in three columns. The following describes the data in each column.

Column 1 (Agent)

The first column is the name of the agent. There are agents for the Server application itself and agents for transports, inbound polling, outbound polling, document packaging and unpackaging, document sending and receiving.

The agents for outbound and inbound polling show three numbers following each active transport or document type. These are, in order, the document polling rate in seconds, the documents per cycle and the maximum threads. The polling rate is the interval when WebLogic Integration - Business Connect polls for inbound or outbound documents. The documents per cycle is the maximum number of documents the application can retrieve at each polling interval. The maximum threads are packaging threads for outbound documents and unpackaging threads for inbound documents.

Column 2 (Name (ID))

The second column identifies that the system or a company is associated with the agent.

Column 3 (Status)

The third column displays the status of the agent. The following are the possible status types.

Status

Description

Idle

The agent is available, but not running.

Packaging

The agent is packaging a document for sending to a partner. Depending on options you select, packaging can include encrypting, signing, MIME wrapping and compressing.

Paused

The agent is running, but in a paused state. Paused indicates the Server application is waiting for memory to free up before continuing processing. Paused is a normal state for brief intervals. If this state persists, processing is exceeding available real memory. See Paused Server Processing.

Receiving

The agent is receiving data from a partner.

Running

The agent is running.

Sending

The agent is sending data to a partner.

Unpackaging

The agent is unpackaging a document received from a partner. Depending on selected options, unpackaging can include decrypting, decompressing and MIME unwrapping.

Wait/connect

The agent is attempting to connect to a transport server. Wait/connect is a normal state for brief intervals. If this state persists, it might indicate a transport failure.

Transactions

This area lists recent transactions in the current session of Server. For historical transaction information use Tracker. Transactions are displayed in the following format:

The system has sent your partner an acknowledgment of receiving a document.

Acknowledged

The system has received from your partner an acknowledgment of a document you sent.

Acquired

The system has acquired a document through the outbound integration set up in your company profile.

API - Notify - Local

The system has notified a local API client of an event.

API - Notify - Remote

The system has notified a remote API client of an event.

API - Receiving - Remote

An API client has gotten a document from an HTTP or HTTPS server.

API - Sending - Local

The system has sent a document for a local API client.

API - Sending - Remote

The system has sent a document for a remote API client.

New

The system has retrieved a new document for outbound processing.

Packaged

The system has packaged an outbound document.

Received

The system has received a document from a partner.

Rejected

The system has rejected a document and placed it in the rejected directory.

Sent

The system has sent a document to a partner.

Transferred

The system has moved an unpackaged document received from your partner to the inbound integration set up in your company profile.

Document

The document type. Possible types are:

Document type

Description

Binary

A binary document.

nnnnnnnnn

A nine-digit control number indicates an EDI document.

XML

An XML document.

NA

The document type is not applicable. This usually is associated with a rejected document.

Time

The time and date of the transaction.

Alerts

This area lists recent alert messages that have been generated in the current session of the Server application.

All

This area displays the summary, agents, transactions and alerts information on the same page. The page also displays the following two fields at the bottom.

RMI port

The remote method invocation port that WebLogic Integration - Business Connect is using.

Version

The version and build numbers of the installed WebLogic Integration - Business Connect.

Server log

This area lists the latest number of lines specified in the server.log file. To change the number of displayed lines, type the number in the number of lines to retrieve field and click Change.

Figure 3-5 Server Log Area of Server Monitor Web Page

Paused Server Processing

Paused is a normal processing status for the Server application. The status can be reported in the agents table on the Server Monitor web page and on the Server Display window Agents tab on computers running Windows operating systems.

Paused indicates the Server application is waiting for memory to free up before continuing processing. Paused is a normal state for brief intervals. If this state persists, processing is exceeding available real memory. You have three options:

Upgrade the amount of real memory on the computer running the Server application.

Decrease the Server processing load.

Stop the Server application and change the parameter for available real memory. The parameter is -mx[nnn]m, where [nnn] is half the real memory in megabytes on the computer running the Server application. You entered the computer's total amount of real memory when installing the application, and the system used half the amount as the [nnn] value. Only increase the -mx[nnn]m parameter value if your computer has enough memory and is not running other memory-intensive applications at the same time.

On Windows the parameter is in the Server.bat and Server.ini files in the WebLogic Integration - Business Connect bin directory, and you must change the parameter in both files. On UNIX the parameter is in the WebLogic Integration - Business Connect bin/environment directory. Using a text editor, open the file, change the [nnn] value in the -mx[nnn]m parameter, save and close the file, and restart the Server application.

Closing Applications

You can close and restart Administrator, Tracker and the Server application independently of each other.

You can close the Server application only on the computer where you have installed it and not from a client computer.

Stopping All Processes on UNIX

Unlike the stop_server command, which only closes the Server application, the kill_app command on UNIX shuts down all WebLogic Integration - Business Connect processes. These include the Server, Administrator and Tracker applications. You might want to use this command only after trying other steps to resolve issues such as not being able to close or open Administrator or Tracker or having multiple Java processes running.

To use the kill_app command, log in to the account you created during the installation process and run the following command:

installation_directory/bin/kill_app

Closing Administrator or Tracker

Select File—>Exit to close Administrator or Tracker.

Printing Administrator or Tracker Records

You can print a list of the records in the currently active information viewer by selecting File—>Print or pressing Ctrl-P. Administrator or Tracker prints to your system's default printer.

The application prints the data as displayed on the current information viewer, so maximizing the window size before you print yields longer horizontal printed records. Although the records print in landscape format, you might have to adjust the column widths or hide columns of data in the information viewers to print the columns you want. This is necessary to account for differences in fonts and printers.

You can adjust column widths by placing the cursor over the lines between the columns headings to make a double-arrow appear. Click and hold the left button to adjust the widths. You also can click and drag columns headings to change their locations. You can hide or show columns of data by selecting View—>Columns or right-clicking on a column heading and selecting the columns option.

The application prints the data as displayed on the current information viewer, so maximizing the window size before you print yields longer horizontal printed records. Although the records print in landscape format, you might have to adjust the column widths in the information viewers to print the columns of data you want. This is necessary to account for differences in fonts and printers.

You can adjust column widths by placing the cursor over the lines between the columns to make a double-arrow appear. Click and hold the left button to adjust the column widths. You also can click and drag columns to change their locations.